Page 306 of Secret Shifters Next Door

Blayne took my face in his hands and looked into my eyes. “You’re having a panic attack. I want you to take a big, deep breath. Here, breathe with me, okay?”

I looked into his eyes and tried to match my breathing to his. Difficult at first, but soon I was taking deep slow breaths in and easy long breaths out. Soon, I was able to calm myself enough to climb shakily from my car.

Miles was still in his wolf form, his teeth clamped into the hunter’s leg. Blood oozed from his mouth. The man was gasping and cursing, trying to kick at Miles’s head and reach for his rifle. Uncle Sam walked up and kicked the gun away, letting it spin off to the side with a metallic clatter.

Sam leaned down and pressed the barrel of his gun to the man’s forehead. “You think it’s fun chasing ladies, motherfucker?” He pressed the barrel down hard, cracking the back of the man’s head on the pavement.

Blayne walked around to the hunter, holding my hand. Sam glanced up and nodded to the hunter. “Whatcha wanna do with this piece of shit? Me and Luis can cap his ass right now. Stash him in the woods.”

I winced at the callousness of it, but I then remembered the way this one had looked at me. Had he taken me, would he have been any kinder to me? Probably not.

Blayne shook his head. “No. Not like that. Hide him somewhere. We need to get Ava safe. We’ll deal with him later. I’ll take Ava to Gio’s place.”

Sam gave a nod of assent. “You got it, boss.”

Miles let go of the guy and shifted back. He wiped the blood from his mouth and knelt next to the hunter, spitting on the ground. “You taste like shit, by the way.”

Luis and Sam lifted the guy up by his arms, and I could see panic and terror play across his face as my uncles dragged him toward their car. Luis swung a knee up into the hunter’s crotch. The kidnapper heaved a breath out, gagging and dry-heaving.

“Wanna fuck with my baby niece? I’ll show you how fun things can get. You wait and see.”

They tossed the guy into the trunk and slammed the lid before getting in and driving off. Miles grabbed the rifle off the road and unloaded it before tossing it into the back of my own car.

“Can this drive?” Miles asked.

“Uh, I think one of the tires is blown,” I said. I was getting dizzy.

Miles nodded. “Is there a spare?”

I nodded absently, and Miles went to work. Less than ten minutes later, he put on the spare time. The whole time, I stood there, letting Blayne hold me up. The sound of his heartbeat through his chest calmed and soothed me.

“Where did you guys come from anyway? Did you drive?” I asked.

Blayne shook his head. “Would have taken longer to drive. We went straight through the woods. Shifted and ran as soon as I was off the phone with you. Miles and I busted out of the trees right as that asshole knocked your window in.”

“All done,” Miles said, wiping his hands.

Surprisingly enough, only three cars passed while he was working. To their eyes, it looked like a simple blown tire. Little did those people know what kind of shit-show had happened out here twenty minutes ago.

Blayne walked me to the passenger side door. “Get in. I’ll drive.”

Miles shifted and ran back into the woods. Blayne hopped into the driver’s seat and started the car. We drove to my dad’s place, and I didn’t even question the fact that he held my hand the whole way there. In fact, I took comfort in the gesture.

NINETEEN

BLAYNE

I’d been sitting in the office with Miles, talking over some random business stuff when a sudden and inexplicable urge to call Ava had hit me. I’d been talking about a new server Steff and I wanted to install in the office to improve our processing speeds. My words had died on my tongue mid-sentence. I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that something was wrong with Ava. She was in danger, was hurt, or just something…

Miles had looked at me like I’d lost my mind. I sat there for several seconds, mouth half-open and staring off into space. It seemed that even though our mating bond had been severed, we still had a slight connection.

As soon as I’d called her and found out she truly was in danger, my mind cleared. Any confusion and concern I’d had about my feelings for her vanished. I needed to go to her. My only instinct was to protect her.

I’d leaped from the table and called for Miles to follow me. Once we were in the parking lot, I told him what was going down. My own flesh-and-blood brother was gone, but Miles and the others were as tight with me as blood ever could be, and he didn’t hesitate to leap into the forest with me. We cut across the town, using the woods to make up time.

Coming out of the brush as that jackass slammed the butt of his rifle into Ava’s window had been one of the most enraging moments of my life. I’d never been so angry, so full of hate. It took every ounce of my willpower not to tear through all the hunters and destroy them.

After the hunters had been taken care of, and the excitement and chaos of the situation had died, I found myself driving Ava to her father’s house. I kept a firm grip on her hand. Things had truly gone mad in the last hour. The entire world had turned upside down.

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